Florida has 3 bills currently on the table: This is the latest
{Monday, March 02, 2009] from the AKC
A bill has been introduced in the Florida House of Representatives to limit dog ownership and impose numerous regulations on responsible breeders and dog owners, including imposing regulations on any person owning 10 or more dogs and limiting ownership to 50 dogs. All Florida responsible dog owners and breeders are encouraged to contact their State legislators and express their opposition to House Bill 1249 and its companion bill, Senate Bill 2002.
If adopted, House Bill 1249/Senate Bill 2002 would impose numerous unenforceable provisions. These include:
*Prohibiting tail docking and ear cropping except by a licensed veterinarian.
*Imposing stringent engineering standards for anyone owning 10 or more intact dogs at least four months of age.
*Allowing for a warrantless search by any animal control officer or "other authorized public health or safety official", either upon the receipt of a complaint or upon the officer’s "own initiative".
*Prohibiting anyone from owning, possessing, controlling, or having charge or custody of more than 50 intact dogs over the age of four months at any time.
*Exempting public animal shelters, nonprofit humane societies/animal adoption/rescue organizations, veterinary facilities, retail pet stores, research institutions, and boarding facilities from the standards of care required in this bill.
Florida needs all of us to get involved. Florida House of Representatives
Sample letter from AKC
Don't forget about the following bills that are currently on the table:
SB 288 introduced by Sen. Larcenia Bullard The Pet "Lemmon Law"
HB 451 introduced by Rep.Scott Randolph, D-Orange County Mandatory Spay/neuter
and now:
HB 1249 introduced by Rep. Soto D-Orange County and Rep. Jenne D- Broward
SB 2002 introduced by Sen. Constantine R- Orange County- "Commercial dog breeding"
Local level
Miami-Dade County proposed zoning changes and pet limits
West Palm Beach- PASSED dog and cat breeder laws that penalized dog breeders who do not register with the county. All residents must spay/neuter their pet or registar as a "breeder"
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5 comments:
wow...whats really ironic is that exempt RETAIL PETSTORES: You know, the people who are keeping the actual puppymills IN BUSINESS...
You may THINK it is Ironic- but really it is not. Shelters have become the modern day “pet store”. They have paid staff (who want to keep their jobs) and they have invested so much money into buildings, advertising, and other “business” expenses that they really do not want to put themselves out of business. Many (I know, I know- not all- so don’t bother with the long list of comments on how your shelter is all volunteer with no building, etc- you are the True shelters and rescues- but get a grip- there are MANY who are just BUSINESSES) use both sides of argument to get donations from the public to support the BUSINESS of the shelter. For example- take dogs from “puppy mills”- ask for donations to stop “puppy mills”- yet get money for adopting those same dogs. If they REALLY ended puppy mills, they might have no dogs to adopt. Where would the revenue come from? Some shelters are already experiencing reduced dogs/ cats for adoption, and they are starting to IMPORT animals from other countries to fill their cages and runs. If they are not full- it is hard to get donations from the public by crying “overpopulations”!!!
Here's the $100,000 question: If all of these engineering standards that are being proposed in Florida SB 2002 for a breeder/person that has 10 or more dogs are necessary for the dog's welfare, then why aren't shelters, rescues, animal control agencies, etc. that house 10 or more dogs being held to the same standards? I'm sorry, but sheer numbers do NOT make a breeder sub-standard. And just because a group is operating a "rescue" or "shelter" doesn't mean that they can't be sub-standard too.
There's another important point on SB 2002 that I think a lot of people are missing. When it talks about the actual engineering standards, the actual wording in the proposed bill states:
"A person who owns, possesses, controls, or otherwise
has custody of 10 or more dogs that are 4 months of age or older
shall":
NOTE: These engineering standards are being imposed on ANYONE who has 10 or more dogs...."possesses"....."controls"....or otherwise has "custody of" aren't terms that are necessarily confined strictly to owners. Anyone think about professional handlers???? Hmmmmmmm.......
There's another bill being proposed that people need to be aware of - and that is HB 189/SB 922 - if passed, it will allow local governments to enact regulations such as mandatory spay/neuter, muzzling, registration, etc. based strictly on a dog's breed.
Check out the NAIA Trust Legislative Action Alert on this proposed bill - see http://capwiz.com/naiatrust/issues/alert/?alertid=12533481
They have talking points up on their Lobby Center for all of the Florida bills and you can use their CapWiz tool to send your comments to legislators.
To see all of the Florida Legislative Alerts that are available on CapWiz, go to naiatrust.org - click on Legislative Corner, then Lobby Center, then click on NAIA Issues, then Legislative Alerts and Updates.
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